I, also, like Moonbo, don't enjoy entering debates like this for the same reasons he noted. I especially hate to pop in just for this after I've taken a long hiatus from TDM. However, I'm quite disappointed in some of the dead horsiness around this subject. Which also means that it condones slavery. Contradicting your claim that it "made it immoral". People used the Bible, including the New Testament, to justify slavery until the 1800s. It's amazing that no one noticed that it made slavery immoral until after society started to have ethical problems with slavery. Springheel, I know for a fact that you're much more thoughtful than that. "The bible condones slavery" was already an unintelligible dead horse argument in the 19th century. And surely you recognize the several logical beggings of the question in your bald assertion (if I may syllogize it thusly:) "people have used the biblical text to justify slavery; slavery is ethically unacceptable; therefore I need not pay thoughtful attention to what the historic biblical text or historic Christianity actually has to say regarding it". Which people, and where, with what arguments? Which texts from the New Testament? What kind of slavery? Christian Thought has an ethical basis upon which to call slavery immoral -- Don't you need one of your own in order to say the same? And even if most Christians had supported slavery (and they never did), we surely don't make consensus gentium a test for truth? Slavery as a metaphor in New Testament theological discourse is common knowledge. Paul, being a good educated 1st century man, used several legal metaphors to talk about Soteriology and the relationship of man to God -- slaves, sons, citizens, property managers, and more. That is the purpose of slavery in the places where it acts as metaphor. You asked about the text from Ephesians 6 including, "masters, treat your slaves in the same way [as you would Christ]." If you are trying to pull that paragraph out of its meaningful literary context, in order to think of it as a bare standalone ethical maxim, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you're looking for veiled calls to social revolution, you'll be equally disappointed. Consider that the exhortations in the second half of Ephesians have an established foundation -- Paul isn't beating the church in Ephasus with a philosophically groundless moral bludgeon. There is a Christological and Soteriological premise for his cohortatives toward Christian living. Hence Anderson's argument that "the general idea of the texts is to recognize the brother in every servant and sort of to subtly suggest society to change its attitude." Even the very short letter of Paul to Philemon the slaveowner follows this pattern (in short: "Before you even consider what to do with this runaway slave, who is your brother in Christ, consider first how God in Christ has dealt with you.") One of the only philosophical stances against slavery in the whole modern era (outside of Christianity) is Kant's Categorical Imperative and Enlightenment natural law theory. Two historically laughable disappointments with regard to abolition. Even the anti-Christian Marquis de Condorcet had to begrudgingly admit that "only a few philosophes have from time to time dared raise a cry in favour of humanity [over against slaveholding.]" Enlightenment natural law theory died when 19th century men discovered that there were hundreds of non-Western nations that didn't conform with the "rationality" of Enlightenment Europeans. And even if someone could demonstrate the correctness of either of these ethical systems, will people even follow it when it goes against their self-interest or value system? Thomas Jefferson is a perfect example -- he gave lip service to slavery being a "hideous evil", but he still remained a lifelong slaveowner, never attempted to stop his financial dependence on slavery, remained racist not only to people of color but also antisemite, and he made slavery a constitutional right in the expanding territories. Meanwhile in Christianity, all classic Christians have always held that "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come," and the transformed Christian's value system and worldview will have soteriological motivation to treat his neighbor as himself. Finally, let's bring some empirical and historical force to the arguement. Figures like Granville Sharp and William Wilburforce should need no explication, but permit me to quote a few other thinkers on this subject: S. Scott Bartchy, “Slavery,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Henri Wallon: Histoire de l’esclavage dans l’Antiquité (Written 1847--and already writing on the beneficial historic Christian impact on slavery in antiquity!) Alvin J. Schmidt, Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization (2001): Philadelphian Quaker Benjamin Lay, All Slave-keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage: (1737): William Warburton, A Sermon Preached Before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (1766): John Wesley, Thoughts upon Slavery (1774): Charles Elliott, Sinfulness of American Slavery: Proved from Its Evil Sources; Its Injustice; Its Wrongs; Its Contrariety to Many Scriptural Commands, Prohibitions, and Principles, and to the Christian Spirit (1850)